Contraception in the German-language Wikipedia: a content and quality analysis

Abstract

Background: Adolescents and adults today often obtain information about contraception from the Internet, especially from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. This is because Google searches usually return Wikipedia entries as top hits. Research aim: Against this background, the aim of the current study is to systematically analyze for the first time the content and quality of Wikipedia articles on contraceptive methods. Five central quality dimensions are examined: the degree of correctness (research question RQ1), completeness (RQ2), neutrality (RQ3), comprehensibility (RQ4), and currency (RQ5) of the contraceptive information – and on this basis the overall quality of the articles (RQ6). Materials and methods: A sample of all German-language Wikipedia articles on all contraceptive methods was formed (N = 25). These articles were analyzed by three independent, trained coders using a codebook that was developed based on the current state of the research and tested for reliability. Data analysis was performed using SPSS. The study is preregistered and all data, materials, and analysis scripts are publicly available. Results: The 25 Wikipedia articles on contraceptive methods were found to vary widely in content quality. While they showed good quality on average in terms of correctness (RQ1) and neutrality (RQ3), they scored mediocre in terms of completeness (RQ2), comprehensibility (RQ4), and currency (RQ5), resulting in moderate overall quality (RQ6). Discussion: More research as well as practice measures are needed to further assess and improve the quality of contraceptive information on Wikipedia and in other social media in a more targeted way.